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PROVO — Utah County is joining a growing movement to sue prescription drug companies amid a national opioid-drug epidemic.
The Utah County Commission decided Tuesday to take legal action before Dec. 31, the Daily Herald reports. The resolution says drug companies marketed opioid drugs in the 1990s and early 2000s despite the risks of addiction.
Salt Lake County announced plans to file a similar lawsuit in a news conference with House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper. Hughes wrote a letter supporting the Utah County resolution.
More than two dozen states, cities and counties around the U.S. have sued pharmaceutical companies. The companies have generally denied wrongdoing.
Utah County Commission Chairman Bill Lee says the county seeks to recoup the "shocking" public costs of dealing with opioid-addiction crime and other problems.
